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It’s no secret that having a set routine that you stick to is a good habit. Having a planned nighttime routine is no different. It allows you to wind down from your day, get ready to sleep, and let your body relax into rest. The more regular you are in your nighttime practices, the easier it will be to fall and stay asleep every night. If you want to help balance your life, start by planning out a healthy nighttime routine.
Timing Your Meals
Perhaps the biggest factor in your daily routine is your meals. No matter what you do for work or how you spend your time, your meals are a steady structure in your day. When you plan your nightly routine, it’s important to include your evening meal. Going to bed without eating can leave you stressed out and weak and make sleeping more difficult, so it’s crucial to be getting enough food every day.
When it comes to meals, you don’t want to eat something large and filling right before bed. if you’re hungry as you’re trying to wind down, reach for a light snack rather than something heavy. Healthy late night snacks could be some nuts, a piece of fruit, or even some toast with jelly. Eating just enough to tide you over until breakfast will help keep you healthy and prevent sleep problems that come from overeating.
Relaxing From Your Day
Once you have your meal and snack schedule planned out, it’s time to look at how you relax. There’s no doubt about it- life gets crazy sometimes. To manage stress and let your body recover from the strain it endures, it’s important to take time to unwind. While letting yourself relax from your day is vital to your mental health, the method in which you do it is also important. Ultimately, how you wind down will depend on what you most enjoy doing. Everyone has different interests, and it’s up to you to find one that helps you relax.
As you’re beginning to come down from your day, it may be wise to avoid using your devices too much. The more you’re looking at screens while you wind down for bed, the more active your brain will be. This increased activity can lead to poor-quality sleep, nightmares, or simply restlessness. Many studies advise staying away from your phone for at least an hour before you head for bed. Rather than looking at a screen, consider reading a book or hopping in a warm bath. Allowing your brain to decompress from the stress of your day will help you sleep better and improve your overall mental health.
Getting Into Bed
The last step in your nightly routine is obviously your bedtime. After you have decompressed fully from your day, it’s time to crawl into bed. It’s important to maintain a set bedtime every night to keep your circadian rhythm healthy. While you don’t have to stick to your schedule down to the minute, you should stay as close as possible to your set bedtime. This will make falling asleep easier and help to eliminate insomnia and restlessness. The less you have to fight to fall asleep, the more rested you’ll feel when you wake up.
Once you get into bed, it may help you to have some music or white noise playing. Again, this is completely dependent on what works best for you, but it may help to have something set in stone that you can rely on. Having that set structure of the same music or noise every time you’re going to sleep could even help you fall asleep faster. Your brain will hear the sound and begin to get tired, making your bedtime routine complete. Your entire nighttime routine culminates in you falling asleep, so make sure you’re setting yourself up for success.
In conclusion, having a set nighttime routine will not only help your mental health improve but also make falling and staying asleep easier.